Homelite Super 2 - Few Questions

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doctorj77

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Picked up a Super 2 this week for $10. Saw appeared to be intact, came with case, had compression, figured what the hell, for the price I'll try it.

Are these saws worth anything? From what little reading I did, looks like they ran in the late 70s to early 80s. And if I understand correct you have to take the whole assembly out of the case to get to the carb, tanks....etc? Is it worth the effort or are they a unnecessarily complicated design?

When I got it home I fully expected it to need a rebuild, so I picked up a carb rebuilt kit, fuel lines, duck bill for the oiler and fuel/air filters. But before I tore it down, why not just try it out. Fresh gas & a dozen pulls = no boom. Checked the plug and of course looked fouled up. So a quick visit to the wire wheel, plopped it in & the dam thing fired right up.

Actually runs quite well, carb is responding decently and even the oiler is working. Half temped to do nothing but enjoy it a bit

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I received one in a box completely demontaged many years ago.

Mag cased, 32 cc two trigger, non adj. carb. The only thing I had to purchase was a foam filter and some stens gas and oil caps (sux). Put fresh lines and a duckbill in it.

I really enjoy the little thing. Used the heck out of it last weekend taking down some Leyland cypress we lost to a freak spring freeze and pruning the other trees in the yard. Handy for cutting to smaller pieces before throwing on the burn pile.

Recently modded a Remington electric 12" bar to fit it and bashed a few chains together to fit.

Only blows 120psi and runs great. I hope it never dies.
 
Found the original manual in the case, thought it was old newspaper they used to soak up any oil. Since the carb is running decently, I might just run new fuel lines and a duckbill since I already purchased them. I'd just hate to take the carb apart if its working alright, so I'll do the little stuff
 
I have two of them, one is a USA made version and the other a Canadian version. The biggest differences I see is the USA one has fuel and oil caps that have external threads on them where the Canadian one they have internal threads in the caps. Also the Canadian one must be much newer as it has what I guess is the "safety guard" like the one on Wood Doctors saw. Makes it a bit of a pain to fuel up.

The USA one was bought new in July of 1975 by my first wife.
 
I've rebuilt well over a dozen of the Homelite saws in the last couple of years, just got done doing one and the latest is a 240 so I guess that doesn't count. On the Super 2, after you've done 5 or 6 they become easy. I haven't tried it but imagine I could take one apart and put it back together in the dark. Super 2 was the only new chainsaw I ever bought back in the 70's I think, $149 and it was magnesium I think, maybe aluminum. I recommend plastic as mine kept breaking toward the back of the handle (dual trigger).
 
If you want a decent saw fix it. I have one and a couple of donor saws if I need parts. There is alot of them around in junk piles. I took a liking to them a long time ago. They are a little tricky to assemble but practice makes perfect.20230413_151205.jpg
 
This one was given to me. Kind of a pain at first to work on but after a couple times they really aren’t too bad. Like others have said, they are solid little saws.


View attachment 1094084View attachment 1094085
wow, that is highly collectable to the Evil Dead movie fans. That is the character's left arm appendage that he cuts up zombies with. He carries a sawed off pump in his right hand one hilarious horror movie.
 
this is not an accurate rendering of the saw but this is the movie, I know an evil dead fan that paid 500 bucks for one that was running and looked new for a Halloween costumeScreenshot_20230701-175623_Google.jpg
 
Picked up a Super 2 this week for $10. Saw appeared to be intact, came with case, had compression, figured what the hell, for the price I'll try it.

Are these saws worth anything? From what little reading I did, looks like they ran in the late 70s to early 80s. And if I understand correct you have to take the whole assembly out of the case to get to the carb, tanks....etc? Is it worth the effort or are they a unnecessarily complicated design?

When I got it home I fully expected it to need a rebuild, so I picked up a carb rebuilt kit, fuel lines, duck bill for the oiler and fuel/air filters. But before I tore it down, why not just try it out. Fresh gas & a dozen pulls = no boom. Checked the plug and of course looked fouled up. So a quick visit to the wire wheel, plopped it in & the dam thing fired right up.

Actually runs quite well, carb is responding decently and even the oiler is working. Half temped to do nothing but enjoy it a bit

View attachment 1093884

View attachment 1093889
I had an xl for years. Loved it
Give it to my granddaughters husband It had no safety features .
I loved it keep it tuned and sharpen often a
And buy spare duckbills

Mike
 
Probably the best cheap top handle saw. Great little saw for small jobs, or even if you need to do some climbing. The two triggers make it quite convenient to use, but as others say they are inconvenient to work on if you're just wanting to do a carb rebuild. And they will need a carb rebuild often if you don't use premium gas or canned fuel. That family of saws came with two types of oil feed systems, if yours runs the pressurized tank loosen the oil cap to remove pressure after you've used it or it will leak oil.
 
Just took it apart today, well pulled it out of the case to inspect & clean. As I was changing fuel/air filters, I observed the fuel lines are newer, and given that it runs so well I'd venture as guess the carb was serviced not long ago too

Glad I took it apart though, found out I'm missing duckbill on the gas tank & the other on the oil line. Got two new ones on order
 
The only real problem I have had with the Super 2's is if I run them, say 1/2 of the tank of gas and shut down to move some wood, they are very hard to restart. Same if I run out of gas and refill they also just about refuse to restart. Probably something I'm doing wrong but the one I have had since 1975 has done that since day one!

Only use to cut firewood and 90% of the trees on property I have are under 12 inches at the base so not much need for bigger saw.
 
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